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That's not really the point is it. The amount of storage space available to the customer has changed without notice. The OP was within the limits that have worked since he got the DVR and now the limits have moved.

If the customer had been given notice that'd be one thing, but even in that scenario saying he should just watch his recordings isn’t really very constructive.

I’m not exactly sure how Genie is configured to use disk space but it certainly has the unintended consequence of interfering with the normal use of those that have mostly full hard drives.

I have no idea how Genie works but it seems to want a certain amount of space and will take it as it frees up. The number of subs affected has to be pretty small but it’s got to be frustrating when you don’t know it’s coming and didn’t have a chance to prepare for it.

Mike

+1

Most other DVRs can run full with only minor slowdowns. The DVR is designed to automatically delete old shows to make room for new ones, so in theory you should never have to delete any shows. I ran my Tivo like that for a long time.

The HR34 is also designed so that an entire household of 5, 6, or 7 people can record all of their individual shows onto one DVR. I bet that kind of usage would fill it up fast.

I think what's happened here is that these people's hard drive's file systems are now corrupted. The Genie didn't make space for itself gracefully. I would suggest the OP clear and delete everything and start over from scratch. I would also call D* and complain loudly. He'll hopefully get a credit or free service of some kind.

I think what's happened here is that these people's hard drive's file systems are now corrupted. The Genie didn't make space for itself gracefully. I would suggest the OP clear and delete everything and start over from scratch. I would also call D* and complain loudly. He'll hopefully get a credit or free service of some kind.

What!?!!

There's no evidence of wide spread "corruption", and deleting everything is not indicated, at least as a general rule for this problem and others.

Well then we're back to how do you know you deleted 40%, if the free space still reads zero?

Because he delete almost half of his recorded shows. So if he had 200 hours of recorded shows, and he deleted 80 hours of them, what percentage of shows did he delete?

Others have said that the Genie takes up around 10%. In theory, he should only have to delete at least 20 hours of shows to get to 10%. He could delete a few more to be on the safe side. But then his free space indicator should start to go up.

The fact that the free space indicator isn't budging isn't a good sign.

I would recommend the Tivo's "clear to do list and season pass" option, as it has gotten a few Tivo users out of a similar jam. But the HR2xs don't have that option. Maybe he could do it manually -- remove all series links and reboot twice. But if that doesn't work, and it still refuses to record anything, what's the next step? Erase everything and start fresh.

All it takes is a few bad bytes in just the wrong place in the file system or partition table to wreak havoc.

Because he delete almost half of his recorded shows. So if he had 200 hours of recorded shows, and he deleted 80 hours of them, what percentage of shows did he delete?

Others have said that the Genie takes up around 10%. In theory, he should only have to delete at least 20 hours of shows to get to 10%. He could delete a few more to be on the safe side. But then his free space indicator should start to go up.

The fact that the free space indicator isn't budging isn't a good sign.

I would recommend the Tivo's "clear to do list and season pass" option, as it has gotten a few Tivo users out of a similar jam. But the HR2xs don't have that option. Maybe he could do it manually -- remove all series links and reboot twice. But if that doesn't work, and it still refuses to record anything, what's the next step? Erase everything and start fresh.

All it takes is a few bad bytes in just the wrong place in the file system or partition table to wreak havoc.

I'm not a mind reader, so I need to count on what is posted, "and" have it make some sense.

If the file system were significantly corrupted, it would be cleared during a reboot when the DVR runs the self test.Bad recordings disappear at this time.

There could be some guide data issues and maybe problems with the series links, but neither of these would stop a manual recording.

More accurate data/posts are needed to offer help as to what is going on and steps to take to try to resolve and/or find what the problem is.

The OP (and others) are looking for suggestions to try. You're not going to get more information unless you ask for it.

Problems don't have to make sense. And usually problems don't make sense when there's not enough information.

The manual recording suggestion is brilliant, but that could have been suggested a hundred posts back.

post #2 had something to try for the OP.

The second poster who said he/she had done this and it didn't help, was where more information was needed.I asked and got one answer, but then it was flipped back to the first question.To troubleshoot, there needs to be consistence responses.If the poster is going in loops, so does the troubleshooting.

Just to try to get everyone on the same page:
[and I may not have all of this so feel free to add]

There is the TS who lost all free space, and has only deleted 8 HD shows. This wasn't/isn't enough to account for the 10% change. Until something more is done, there isn't much to do with this case.

There is a second poster [new to the forum] who has deleted "some recordings", and it seems like these were enough to have the free space return.
"Seems like" has yet to be explained constantly enough to know.
This DVR may have other problems.

I'm simply trying to verify "exactly" what has and hasn't been done, to get an idea of what to look/try next.

I'll post this in hopes that maybe it will provide hope to those who are below zero on space.

My HR-34 was at 11% just before the software update. The next morning I noted that I now had 1% of available space. Never turned Genie on but still had problem. Wiped out a couple hours but that evening as it attempted to record the last of the 6-7 programs it was scheduled to record I received a message that it could not continue recording and I had to delete something. I decided I could live without Colbert signing off so I told it to stop recording. Since then, I've been able to stay ahead of the curve but am looking forward to watching a lot of TV (used up some time for that reading the 8 pages of this thread:)) and looking forward to wiping out a bunch more before the Sunday news shows use up another 4-5 hours. For those mathmeticians in the group - I record everything in HD. It appears that the update reserved 10% of the available space for it's own purposes but didn't erase anything to make that room, just won't let you record anything new in that space. This seems to indicate that it's not the software itself taking up that room since it would have to make that room for itself if it actually needed it for the operating system. Also, means that if and when they decide to fix the problem they created they should be able to do so. Not holding my breath.

Below is totally irrelevant stuff.

As an aside, I think where some of the comments got a little heated was when it appears XTC and a few others didn't appreciate being told that they had been doing something wrong in recording so many programs and using up all that space. At least, when I read all 8 pages at once that was my take. Frankly, I had the same reaction. I realize others aren't necessarily intending it that way (I actually came to this site to figure out how to hook up an external HD). That being said, if I want to use all of my storage space then that's my business. I travel a bit and so sometimes a lot of stuff gets recorded. I like the news so don't always get back to programs I've recorded for a while since they're seldom "current" like the news. Recently, recorded the whole of Breaking Bad that AMC was kind enough to broadcast saving me buying the series on DVD. That's 50 hours by itself. I realize that I'm at risk and might be a bit crazy but it's my (albeit leased) DVR and should get to use it the way I want. Having had a few days to cool off from my original "disappointment" in DT doing something without warning (they seem quite capable of sending me their promos) I no longer feel the need to rant. At least I hope this doesn't seem like a rant. But I can appreciate others with an actual problem being a little less circumspect. Had I been out of town and come back to find that nothing recorded for a few days I'm sure I'd give the others a run for their money.

For those wih the problem, what happens if you just press the record button while watching live TV?

Hi. Nothing it just gives the no space available message. Now another strange thing has happened. Once it tries to record something in the "to do" list, it shows that it has recorded three times in the playlist. All the same channel, all the same time, with zero minutes recorded. It is so screwed up! Like the available space, there have been zero answers from DT. Going into the 4th day of this and counting.

I'll post this in hopes that maybe it will provide hope to those who are below zero on space.

Below is totally irrelevant stuff.

Hopefully, this didn't offend anyone ... it surely wasn't meant to.

:welcome_s to the forum.

Good post.

I'm not sure if my posts were taken as "doing something wrong", as they were meant to be "time to change" how you do it, to work with this.

It's going to take a couple/few days, but I'm trying to fill up my drive and count how many hours it holds.It won't hold as many as before, but some say they've gotten 212 hours before and a loss of 10% may or may not be too drastic.

I'm not sure if my posts were taken as "doing something wrong", as they were meant to be "time to change" how you do it, to work with this.

It's going to take a couple/few days, but I'm trying to fill up my drive and count how many hours it holds.It won't hold as many as before, but some say they've gotten 212 hours before and a loss of 10% may or may not be too drastic.

Hi. See my earlier post. I was the second one on here with the problem. I've deleted approx 40% of the space and I'm still at 0% available. No reboot, reset, or any amount of deleting is changing anything. If you delete all of the future programs, the moment you add another one, it thinks it is recording it and the space is still at 0%. There is an obvious software problem that is affecting some of the HR 34 DVRs. I spoke with Directv tonight and they said their diagnostic team is still working on it.

The problem is not solved by deleting because the DVR thinks it is recording every program that is in the "to do" list for the next two weeks. The orange R is next to every show. Of course, it is not recording anything, but it thinks it is, so the software is not working. If you delete the to do list, them add something new, say for next week, it thinks it is recording it. Doesn't make any sense.

Hi. [Pressing record while watching live TV does] nothing it just gives the no space available message. Now another strange thing has happened. Once it tries to record something in the "to do" list, it shows that it has recorded three times in the playlist. All the same channel, all the same time, with zero minutes recorded. It is so screwed up! Like the available space, there have been zero answers from DT. Going into the 4th day of this and counting.

That is such odd behavior! I don't think I've ever heard of that type of behavior in the 12 years I've been using DVRs. I hope D* can send you out a software patch that'll let you at least record something again. But I'd start watching or transferring as much as I could. Unfortunately, I think a hard drive wipe or a DVR exchange is in your near future.

The only other thing I would suggest is to delete all of your scheduled recordings -- all the series links, future individual shows, etc. The to do list should be totally empty. Then reboot, wait 15 minutes, then reboot again. That should flush the guide data and hopefully restore normal behavior. Wait an hour or two, then delete a single recording and see if the free space indicator moves off of 0%. If so, pick a single program an hour to two in the future to record and cross your fingers. (VOS has a good suggestion of having this recording be a manual recording, to exclude guide data corruption as the source of the problem.) Good luck!

It's going to take a couple/few days, but I'm trying to fill up my drive and count how many hours it holds.

For anyone counting hours, don't forget to include the automatic pre- and post-padding DIRECTV adds. You won't see it in the progress bar or program description, but unless a program is manually padded, DIRECTV records 30 seconds earlier than the start time and 2 minutes after the end time.

Thus for every 24 hours of shows you record and don't manually pad, there's an extra hour of space used for the pre- and post-padding.

For anyone counting hours, don't forget to include the automatic pre- and post-padding DIRECTV adds. You won't see it in the progress bar or program description, but unless a program is manually padded, DIRECTV records 30 seconds earlier than the start time and 2 minutes after the end time.

Thus for every 24 hours of shows you record and don't manually pad, there's an extra hour of space used for the pre- and post-padding.

Good point! And, I'd point out again that MBs required for an hour long show can vary pretty wildly, so whatever tests are made will be ball park... unless you get real specific and record the same content over and over.... Someone, perhaps Runner, some time ago, posted some ranges by taking an external, hooking to his computer, and noting file sizes.

For anyone counting hours, don't forget to include the automatic pre- and post-padding DIRECTV adds. You won't see it in the progress bar or program description, but unless a program is manually padded, DIRECTV records 30 seconds earlier than the start time and 2 minutes after the end time.

Thus for every 24 hours of shows you record and don't manually pad, there's an extra hour of space used for the pre- and post-padding.

"You know", I hadn't even thought of that.It could end up being as much as 8 hours!